When Your Car Breaks Down 1.5 Hours Away From Home

Yes, it happened again. Instead of my brother’s car, it was our family mini van. There was a lot of deja vu (because of the last time this happened), but there was also a lot of kindness that was shown to our family. I even got a ride in a police car! But don’t worry, I didn’t do anything illegal. 😉 Do you want to hear the story?

We were on our way home from a 10-day road trip. We had first gone to Gettysburg, PA and visited the national park there. Then, we drove to Boston, MA to visit my dad’s side of the family. After staying there for about 5 days, we drove to West Point (NY) to drop off my brother at college. We started on the 9-hour ride to home at about 10 a.m.

At about 8:30 p.m. or so, we were driving on a long, busy highway. Not quite as crazy as the one that we were stuck next to in Alabama, but it was busy enough. My mom was just saying how great our mini van had been working. My dad reminded her that it hadn’t brought us home yet. Soon after, he spotted smoke coming from the back of our van. The van shuttered and the “check engine” light came on. My mom, who was driving at the time, parked the car on the side of the highway. We all looked at each other with total unbelief. “This can’t be happening again!“. Our parents started to call insurance and a tow truck. It was taking a long time, and the sun was setting. The cars were speeding by, and every semi truck shook our van. Meanwhile, my brother, Ben, discovered that there were ticks in the tall grass we had parked in. He found three in all and was trying his best to make sure there weren’t any ticks on him. He even drowned one! Despite his efforts, one of the annoying bugs escaped into the car.

While this was happening, a kind friend of ours was coming to pick us up. He was on his way, but the tow truck was due to arrive before he was. We had a dilemma. Of course, our entire family could never fit in the tow truck, and we also couldn’t just stand on the side of the busy highway, waiting for our friend to pick us up. We had to get to a safe waiting spot while my dad waited for the tow truck. What could we possibly do? I didn’t really believe Ben when he said that our dad had called the police to help us out. My mom and I groaned while my siblings giggled in excitement.

The police arrived and decided to shuttle us to a nearby gas station. They took two trips in all. When it was time for Ben, Tom, and I to get in, we followed the policeman to the car. We climbed inside. Of course, I chose the middle, and because it was not really meant to be a seat, it was extremely uncomfortable! But I didn’t really mind…after all, I was riding in a police car. Ben started talking with them about his trapping and asked a couple of questions about some laws. When we arrived at the gas station, we thanked them and climbed out of the car. That part of the adventure was over.

We waited at the gas station until our friend arrived to pick us up and thanked him as much as we could. Last night, I was shown what the love of Christ looks like. We needed help, and he willingly drove and hour and a half to pick us up. I am so thankful!

We arrived home at 1 a.m. exausted, but glad to be home. We still don’t know if our mini van is salvagable, and we are currently using my dad’s twenty-something year-old, five-seater car. But what can I say? It was truly a crazy adventure.